Kaylee’s Lament

Part Twenty-Seven

“Ain’t that pretty gorram crazy?” Jayne said in disbelief.

“Beg pardon?” Wash asked, eyes wide.

“You heard me. Do it.”

“Just a note: when we covered the prospect of a ‘collision course’ in flight school, it was in the ‘things to avoid’ class.”

“Was ‘pissing off the captain in a crisis’ covered in there too? Or did you skip that day? Just do it. Trust me.” He turned to Kaylee. “Sweet pea, I need speed, lots of it. Can we do that thing you did to slip these guys the last time?”

Kaylee looked like someone just shot her dog at the mention of a collision course. “Yeah. But I can do better. Put together some stuff from the books, can boost us up right nice now without blowin’ anything out afterwards. About four minutes worth o’ ‘gorram fast’.” She paused. “Cap’n? You wouldn’t . . .”

“Kaylee. Wash, and all of you, listen up. River gave me an idea that’ll work, I reckon, but you got to trust me. Just do your parts, and we should all make it through this fine.” He looked especially at Kaylee. “A little poorer,” he admitted, “but well worth the MacKlintock’s lives by my estimation.”

“An’ River gave you this notion?” Jayne asked, mystified. “We takin’ orders from a gorram teen-aged crazy girl now?” He glanced at River. “No offense.”

She stuck out her tongue at him.

“We’re takin’ orders from me,” insisted Mal, “and I got the idea from a teen-aged supergenius who can see the gorram obvious when no one else can. Trust me. You’ll like this one, Jayne,” he said, clapping the man on his shoulder. “I promise. Now go get suited up. You too, Zoe. And have Simon move everything he can from the hold that ain’t gonna enjoy vacuum. Put it in the shuttles. Have the Shepherd an’ Inara help.” He turned back to Kaylee. “Can you cut the gravity drive for a bit, just under the cargo hold?”

“Not just there. I either got to cut it off all together, or shift it to the back of the ship. But I can do it,” she affirmed. Mal could tell that she was stru